#god i wish i were a gethenian. like im not a gender abolitonist i just kinda wish it never existed

[pulchrasilva]

I dont like referring to Gethenians as "non-binary" because they're literally not, at least not in my interpretation of the word. Non-binary is a word which describes a group of genders that exist outside of our gender binary, the very word implies the existence of a binary. To me, non-binary means "I looked at the gender binary and said no thank you". But that still requires acknowledging and considering the binary in the first place.

Gethenians are "non-binary" only from our point of view. We look at our gender binary and say "they exist outside of the binary, so they're non-binary". But Gethenians don't have any concept of gender to say "no thank you" to, there is no binary to be "non" to, so why would they identify with that label? To call them "non-binary" is to force them into a social framework that just doesn't exist to them, in order to make their existence make sense to us with all our cultural baggage. Calling Gethenians "non-binary" is just as bad as calling them "men" or "women".

We may choose to call them genderless or non-binary only in comparison to ourselves, but this is not an identity they would hold. Genly shows us that to truly understand Gethenians we need to let go of gender altogether - but that doesn't just mean the binary. After all to oppose something, to be non-binary, is to maintain it - and the last thing we want is to maintain the binary being pushed on them